PRESS RELEASE

Harvey Keitel has joined the board of directors of Children's Rights, a national, non- profit organization fighting for the rights of children dependent on government systems. Founded in 1995, Children's Rights works through litigation, advocacy and public education to reform those systems that affect abused, neglected, and abandoned children. Using the power of the courts when government either cannot or will not do its job to protect children, Children's Rights works closely with independent experts and community groups across the country to ensure that children in the care of the government receive the service to which they are entitled and the chance for a decent childhood.

"I want to help give abused children a voice," stated Keitel. "Children's Rights was created to serve as a watchdog to make sure government does its job. I hope I can help people become aware of the depth of the jeopardy into which children's lives are placed when the systems created to protect them fail. Bureaucracies can be inefficient and it can be hard to change them, but these are children's lives and they should never be imperiled by badly managed offices."

"Children's Rights doesn't complain," Keitel continued. "It figures out the problems and offers solutions. If the problems continue, they take the government to court, when that's the only alternative. Children's Rights is making a difference. I would like people to know that these kids can be helped, and that child welfare systems can be fixed. It may take the pressure of a lawsuit to do it and it may take the public keeping the pressure on until things get better for abused and neglected children, who have no voice unless concerned people speak for them. However, change can be made and I intend to get that message out."

State and local advocates turn to Children's Rights for help in reform efforts when they find mismanaged, overburdened, and underfunded child welfare systems that are often on the verge of collapse. Deficiencies within these systems can include:

1.leaving children in homes where they are abused and neglected and even killed;
removing children from homes when they could be safely maintained in their homes with
provision of services;
2.keeping children in foster care unnecessarily with little attempt to reunite them with their families;
3.moving children from foster home to foster home without adequate services of support;
allowing children to languish years in government custody with little hope of a permanent
adoptive home.

Marcia Robinson Lowry, the Executive Director of Children's Rights, welcomed Keitel to the board saying "It's wonderful that such a well-respected member of the entertainment community is prepared to speak out about the failures of government child welfare systems, and the need for aggressive advocacy for children in foster care or at risk of abuse and neglect. The film community can create a powerful link with the general public."

Keitel joins Children's Rights at a critical time for poor, abused, and homeless children. A record 520,000 children are in foster care compared to 340,000 in 1988 - a 53% increase in the last ten years. Children are languishing in foster care an average of 33 months, with more than a third of them spending three to five years in the system. Over 110,000 children were waiting to be adopted at the end of 1999, and each year state child welfare agencies secure homes for less than one-third of all eligible children.

Children's Rights works throughout the United States in partnership with national and local experts, advocates and government officials to document the needs of children in the care of child welfare systems. Children's Rights helps develop realistic solutions and, where necessary, uses the power of litigation to ensure that reform takes place.